Gooch Glad To Be Alive

FLORIDA - Next gasme: Georgia

The Gator Reserve Endured A Harrowing Experience Two Months Ago When He Was Carjacked At Gunpoint.

October 27, 1999|By Chris Harry of The Sentinel Staff

GAINESVILLE - Don't expect Vannez Gooch to be a hero Saturday. As a member of the University of Florida's special teams, Gooch will be just another Gator running down field on a kick return trying to make a play. His highlight of the game might be making a tackle and hearing his name bellow through the speakers at Alltel Stadium.

Such a moment would create little fanfare for the 82,000 on hand to see fifth-ranked UF (6-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) butt heads with 10th-ranked Georgia (6-1, 4-1) in a pivotal Southeastern Conference game.

But such a moment - any moment, in fact - is significant to Gooch, who two months ago learned a powerful lesson in life's perspectives. In August, the junior cornerback was carjacked at gunpoint and for nearly two hours wondered whether he'd see his family and hometown of Jacksonville again.

``I remember thinking, `These guys are going to kill me,''' said Gooch, the former Ed White High star who transferred to UF from Florida State last year. ``I thought I was going to die.''

But Gooch didn't die. Instead, he kept his cool and wound up being dumped on a lonely country road, stripped to his socks.

And alive to tell about it.

``You see stuff like that on TV all the time, but you never expect it to be you,'' Gooch, 22, told The Orlando Sentinel this week in speaking about the terrifying ordeal for the first time. ``I look back on it now, and there was nothing, I mean nothing, I could have done about it. It was a bad experience and it happened to me, but I survived it and I'm thankful for that.''

On the night of Aug. 25, Gooch met some friends at a local UF lounge. At about 2 a.m., Gooch returned to his home in southwest Gainesville, parked his 1993 four-door Infiniti and made his way toward his apartment.

Suddenly, a man with a gun appeared at his door.

``At first, I thought it was just one guy and I thought about turning and running away,'' Gooch said. ``That's when the other guy came out of the bushes.''

The gunmen, black males in their mid-20s, according to police reports, wanted the rims off his car. Gooch gladly offered them up, ``but that wasn't good enough,'' he said. Instead, Gooch was ordered into the passenger seat of his car. The driver held the steering wheel with one hand and a gun to Gooch's side with the other, while the man in the back placed his weapon by Gooch's headrest. The car drove off.

For 15 minutes, the driver cruised the area, apparently looking to hook up with some friends. Gooch thinks back and figures his fate may have been different if that rendezvous had taken place. When it didn't, the driver headed east, through downtown Gainesville, left Alachua County and entered bordering Putnam County.

All the while, the gunmen chose the conversation. That Gooch was a UF football player never came up.

``They were saying, `Oh, you don't think we'll shoot you?''' Gooch said. ``I was like, `Shoot me? Shoot me for what?' But they were young guys with nothing to do, just thinking about taking my life. I just kept praying. Talking wasn't going to solve anything.''

About 20 miles outside of town, the car pulled over on a single-lane road. Gooch was petrified.

The men ordered Gooch out of the car, pointed their pistols at him and told him to remove his clothes. He took off everything from his 5-foot-8, 184-pound frame. Except his socks.

Thinking the worst, Gooch was relieved as the two climbed back in the car and drove away. The vehicle was found by police two hours later, abandoned and stuck in the mud, in east Palatka.

Gooch walked naked for an estimated eight miles - ``and I didn't care, either'' - before coming across old newspapers to cover himself. A Putnam County sheriff's deputy found him walking alone on the road. And uninjured.

Police recorded the incident as carjacking, armed robbery and abduction. The crime is still under investigation, according to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office.

A day after his plight, Gooch went home to Jacksonville to be with his family. He rejoined the football team two days later.

``I think he understood that there was nothing he could have done,'' said sophomore offensive tackle Kenyatta Walker, who eventually invited Gooch to be his roommate at another complex. ``The best thing for him to do was move on, get on with his life.''

A week after returning to the Gators, Gooch was switched from tailback to cornerback. And on special teams, he's made just five tackles in seven games.

``I love it here,'' said Gooch, who transferred from FSU because the Seminoles had too many tailbacks, only to encounter similar circumstances. ``That doesn't matter. Here, I'm involved in the game all the time. Of course, I'd like to play more, but I believe my time will come.''

That was almost the case two months ago - but with an entirely different meaning.

``Police say that Rule No. 1 in a carjacking is never get in the car, but the people who made Rule No. 1 probably never had a gun pointed at them,'' Gooch said. ``Maybe I was wrong, but I don't think I had a choice. I guess I was just lucky.''